Turun Palloseura

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This article is about the men's football team of the club. For the women's football team, see Turun Palloseura (women's football). For the ice hockey team, see TPS (ice hockey). For the floorball team, see Turun Palloseura (floorball).
Turun Palloseura
Full nameTurun Palloseura
NicknameTepsi
Founded1922; 103 years ago (1922)[1]
GroundVeritas Stadion
Capacity8,072
ChairmanJouko Peräaho
ManagerIvan Piñol
LeagueVeikkausliiga
2025Ykkösliiga, 2nd of 10 (promoted via play-offs)
Websitewww.fc.tps.fi
Active departments of
Turun Palloseura
Floorball Football
(Men's)		 Football
(Women's)
Ice hockey
(Men's)		 Ice hockey
(Women's)
Veritas Stadion, club's home ground.

Turun Palloseura, commonly known as TPS, is a professional football club based in Turku, Finland. Since 2024, the men's team competes in Ykkösliiga, the second highest tier. Nicknamed "Tepsi", the club was founded in 1922.[1]

TPS have won 8 League titles and 3 Finnish Cups.[1] They play their home league matches at Veritas Stadion, with a capacity of 9,372 seats for most matches.[2]

History

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TPS squad in 1965

In the early stages of the UEFA Cup of the season 1987–88, TPS beat Internazionale at the San Siro stadium in Milan, thanks to a goal by Mika Aaltonen, who was later signed by Inter. They lost the return leg with 0–2, but this is widely regarded as the highest point by the club in international football.

After season 2000, TPS lost its place in Finland's Premier League and played for two seasons in the Ykkönen (eng first) in the Finnish first division. In 2001, Petri Jakonen was named a new sporting director of TPS. They aimed to get back up to the Premier League with determination and it took them two seasons to complete the mission. Since season 2003 TPS has again played in the Finland's Premier League, Veikkausliiga. TPS managed to get in the final of the Finnish Cup in 2005, but lost to Haka 4–1 at Finnair Stadium.

Before season 2007, TPS hired famous Finnish striker Mixu Paatelainen as their manager. In his guidance TPS won bronze, ending their ten-year medalless run. After the end of season Paatelainen left for Scottish club Hibernian FC in early January 2008. Quickly TPS hired heralded Finnish manager Martti Kuusela. However Kuusela didn't get the best out of his squad and was fired mid September 2008. Overall TPS ended sixth in Veikkausliiga. So again, TPS had to get a new manager, their third in as many seasons. This time they picked Pasi Rautiainen. The CEO also changed next year as Jakonen moved on to Finnish FA and a former sporting director Marco Casagrande was named the new CEO.

In recent years, TPS has had the highest average attendance in Veikkausliiga but it has suffered from a poor rental agreement with Veritas Stadion. This has led TPS for planning to build their own stadium in Nummi. They also considered the possibility of using the Paavo Nurmi Stadion as their home ground, but these plans faced scheduling problems with Athletics competitions and were scrapped. Both Turku based teams however played few games at the Paavo Nurmi Stadion during 2014 season when the Veritas Stadion was under maintenance. After relegation TPS changed their home venue to the Urheilupuiston yläkenttä, which is close to the Paavo Nurmi Stadion in the Turku Sports Park, but is not eligible to be used in the Veikkausliiga. Future plans for home ground development have not been made public.

TPS returned to the Veikkausliiga for the 2018 season,[3] winning the Ykkönen title on 21 October 2017 with a 1–1 draw against Honka.[4] However, after the 2018 season, TPS was again relegated to Ykkönen, after finishing second-to-last in the league and losing the two-leg play-off against Kokkolan Pallo-Veikot (KPV), the Ykkönen runner-up.[5] Since the 2018 season, TPS plays all home games at Veritas Stadion.

During 2020–2022, the club's former manager Mika Laurikainen worked as a sporting director. He named himself the first team's head coach for the 2023 Ykkönen season.

The club's former homegrown player Lukas Hradecky had been a minority shareholder of the club. In mid-August 2024, it was announced that Hradecky had increased his share and is currently one of the club's majority owners.[6] In late August, the club's former player Kasper Hämäläinen was named the new sporting director.[7]

Due to economic troubles, head coach Miika Nuutinen left the club in January 2025 after serving one season in the position. Subsequently a Spanish coach Ivan Piñol was named the new manager for the 2025 Ykkösliiga season.

Honours

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TPS honours
Competition Titles /
medals 		Seasons
Finnish Championship 8[1] 1928,[a] 1939, 1941, 1949, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975[1]
12[1] 1923, 1925, 1926, 1930, 1938, 1944, 1946, 1948, 1960, 1984, 1986, 1989[1]
11[1] 1929, 1931, 1957, 1967, 1977, 1987, 1996, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012[1]
Finnish Cup 3[1] 1991, 1994, 2010[1]
Finnish League Cup 1 2012

Season to season

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Transfers

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Previously, Turun Palloseura have produced numerous local players for Veikkausliiga and for transfers abroad.

Record transfers

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Rank Player To Fee Year
1. Finland Roope Riski Italy Cesena €750,000 2011[9]
2. Finland Jere Uronen Sweden Helsingborg €750,000 2012
3. Finland Peter Enckelman England Aston Villa €570,000 1999[10]
4. Finland Toni Kolehmainen Norway Hønefoss €500,000 2012
5. Finland Jani Virtanen Italy Udinese €350,000 2006
6. Finland Riku Riski Poland Widzew Łódź €300,000 2011[11]
Finland Kasper Hämäläinen Sweden Djurgården €300,000 2010[12]
Finland Mika Aaltonen Italy Inter Milan €300,000 1987

Current squad

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As of 18 August 2025[13]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF  FIN Oscar Häggström
3 DF  FIN Elias Collin
4 DF  FIN Akim Sairinen
5 DF  FIN Jesper Aitos
6 DF  FIN Benjamin Dahlström (on loan from Gnistan)
7 FW  FIN Rasmus Harjanne
8 MF  FIN Aapo Boström
9 FW  FIN Onni Helén
10 FW  FIN Riku Riski
11 FW  FIN Oscar Dahlfors
12 GK  FIN Olli Hakanpää
13 MF  FIN Marius Könkkölä
14 MF  JPN Emu Kawakita
15 FW  FIN Aarne Louramo
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 FW  FIN Veeti Pohtio
17 MF  FIN Atte Sihvonen
18 FW  FIN Nino Rajamäki
20 FW  FIN Miika Kauppila
21 DF  SEN Seynabou Benga
22 MF  FRA Aly Coulibaly
23 FW  FIN Elmer Vauhkonen (on loan from Gnistan)
25 MF  FIN Santeri Pohjolainen
26 MF  FIN Lasse Ikonen
28 MF  FIN Tomi Väkiparta
29 DF  KOS Albijon Muzaci
30 GK  FIN Niklas Harju
35 GK  FIN Dan Lauri

Management and boardroom

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Football fans of Turun Palloseura
TPS football shirt from 1993

Management

[edit]
As of 26 January 2025
Name Role
Spain Ivan Piñol Head coach
Finland Henri Jussila Coach
Finland Jarkko Ojaniemi Goalkeeping coach
Finland Michael Oliphant Fitness coach
Finland Kalle Tallqvist Talent coach
Finland Jani Tuomala Team manager
Finland Tapani Elmeranta Kit manager
Finland Jyrki Rauhaniemi Doctor

Boardroom

[edit]

As of 29 August 2024[14]

Name Role
Finland Jouko Peräaho Chairman
Finland Rasmus Holma CEO
Finland Kasper Hämäläinen Sporting director

Managers

[edit]

TPS in Europe

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Season Competition Round Country Club Score Agg. Notes
1969–70 European Cup PR Denmark KB Copenhagen 0–1, 0–4 0–5
1972–73 European Cup 1R East Germany 1. FC Magdeburg 0–6, 1–3 1–9
1973–74 European Cup 1R Scotland Celtic FC 1–6, 0–3 1–9
1976–77 European Cup 1R Malta Sliema Wanderers 1–2, 1–0 2–2
1/8 Switzerland FC Zürich 0–2, 0–1 0–3
1985–86 UEFA Cup 1R Soviet Union Spartak Moscow 0–1, 1–3 1–4
1987–88 UEFA Cup 1R Austria FC Admira/Wacker Wenen 0–1, 2–0 2–1
2R Italy Internazionale 1–0, 0–2 1–2
1988–89 UEFA Cup 1R Northern Ireland Linfield FC Belfast 0–0, 1–1 1–1
2R Austria First Vienna 1–2, 1–0 2–2
1/8 Romania Victoria București 0–1, 3–2 3–3
1990–91 UEFA Cup 1R Poland GKS Katowice 0–3, 0–1 0–4
1992–93 Cup Winners Cup 1R Turkey Trabzonspor 0–2, 2–2 2–4
1995–96 Cup Winners Cup Q Albania Teuta 1–0, 0–3 1–3
1997 Intertoto Cup Group Sweden Halmstads BK 1–6
Group Belgium SK Lommel 1–1
Group Serbia Hajduk Kula 1–2
Group Norway Kongsvinger IL 2–0
1998 Intertoto Cup 1R Switzerland FC Sion 0–1, 3–2 2–4
2R Russia Shinnik Yaroslavl 0–2, 2–3 2–5
2008 Intertoto Cup 1R Northern Ireland Lisburn Distillery FC 3–2, 3–1 6–3
2R Denmark Odense BK 1–2, 0–2 1–4
2010–11 Europa League 1Q Wales Port Talbot Town 3–1, 4–0 7–1
2Q Belgium Cercle Brugge 1–2, 1–0 2–2
2011–12 Europa League 2Q Belgium K.V.C. Westerlo 0–1, 0–0 0–1
2013–14 Europa League 1Q Luxembourg Jeunesse Esch 2–1, 0–2 2–3

Women's football

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Main article: Turun Palloseura (women's football)

The club also has a women's team which competes in the Kansallinen Liiga, the top division of women's football in Finland. TPS women took part in the national championship for the first time in 1972, and won the title in 1978. After withdrawing from the top league in 1992, they returned in 2008.[15]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ The championship was decided via cup competition.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Seura | Historia". Official website of Turun Palloseura (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  2. ^ "TPS News". fc.tps.fi. 12 April 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-08-27. Retrieved 2016-04-12.
  3. ^ a b Pietarinen, Heikki (30 November 2017). "Finland – List of League First Level Tables". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Archived from the original on 17 July 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  4. ^ Zavros, Christos (21 October 2017). "TPS:n nousu Veikkausliigaan varmistui dramaattisten vaiheiden jälkeen – FC Honka karsintaan". Ilta-Sanomat (IS.fi) (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  5. ^ "Kokkolan KPV käynnisti nousujuhlat vierasmaalilla – TPS putosi Veikkausliigasta". Helsingin Sanomat (HS.fi) (in Finnish). 3 November 2018. Archived from the original on 25 April 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  6. ^ Petro Punnasta uusi TPS Jalkapallon toimitusjohtaja, Lukas Hradeckysta yksi pääomistajista, Yle, 16 August 2024
  7. ^ KASPER HÄMÄLÄINEN ON TPS:N UUSI URHEILUTOIMENJOHTAJA, fc.tps.fi, 29 August 2024
  8. ^ "Football Archive - Index of SPL Finnish League Suomen Cup Seasons". Archived from the original on 2022-07-02. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
  9. ^ TOP 6: Kalleimmat siirrot Veikkausliigasta ulkomaille – HJK suurin ponnahduslauta, suomifutis.com, 3 December 2017
  10. ^ Nostalgia: TPS sai Enckelmanista heti 1,7 mmk 30.1.1999, Turun Sanomat, 30 January 1999
  11. ^ Riku Riski siirtyy Puolan pääsarjaan, Turun Sanomat, 20 January 2011
  12. ^ TPS:n Hämäläinen siirtyy Ruotsiin, Iltalehti, 30 December 2009
  13. ^ "Miehet-edustus – FC TPS". fc.tps.fi. Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  14. ^ "Yhteystiedot – FC TPS" (in Finnish). TPS. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  15. ^ Pietarinen, Heikki (11 July 2013). "Finland – List of Women Champions". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
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